What we know about 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' from the new trailer

Lucasfilm It's four months and counting until the new "Star Wars" standalone film "Rogue One" premieres, and the excitement and anxiety aren't waning — especially not after the new trailer that aired during the Olympics Thursday night.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" takes place in between the events of the third and fourth episodes, "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope." It follows a Rebel Alliance mission to steal the plans to the Death Star before the Galactic Empire can use it for evil.

There's no "Inception"-like horn in the new trailer, but there is plenty of imagery of the Death Star, Jedha (which is like the Mecca for believers of the Force), the modern C-3PO comic-relief droid, battles with blasters, and more.

Oh, and we have the first look at Darth Vader.

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" hits theaters December 16. In the meantime, theorize with us about what all of these new images from the trailer mean:

1/

A stripped-down, slower, and somehow more intimidating version of "The Imperial March" plays. Could this location be Jedha, the source of the power of lightsabers?

Our new look at Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera. Either they revamped his look in reshoots or Saw aged really quickly from the last trailer. Saw is a "battled veteran," according to the Star Wars Databank, and lives on Jedha to plan a mission against Imperial forces. But this trailer makes him seem a little battered so it's likely Jyn (Felicity Jones) is going to have to convince him to help out.

The Imperial force is growing, and this Star Destroyer is actually hovering over the city seen in the first image of the trailer — notice the pyramid structure. Considering the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Army are both going to end up fighting over the source for lightsabers, to which Jedha is home, this still is probably right before some major battle within this city on the planet.

Lucasfilm

4/

Imperial ships are using cloaking devices, and that's going to be a problem for our Rebel heroes.

5/

I know the Death Star is a major weapon, but boy is it beautiful. The piece that focuses its super laser is being put into place and that means trouble. Take a moment to remember Alderaan.

Lucasfilm

6/

Diego Luna's Captain Cassian Andor joins Jyn on her mission to steal the plans for the Death Star and, based on this image of them about to ride a spaceship off into the sunset, is likely her love interest.

Lucasfilm

7/

Donnie Yen's Chirrut Îmwe might be a blind warrior, but he's clearly not one to be messed with. "I fear nothing. All is as the Force wills it," he says.

Lucasfilm

8/

The droids always steal the spotlight, and Alan Tudyk's K-2SO is no different. Here's looking to the comic relief. Take notice of the Empire symbol on his arm. He apparently is a droid with a conscious because he has switched sides.

Lucasfilm

9/

"There isn't much time." The Death Star creates a total eclipse of a sun and makes it even more obvious why the galaxy is so frightened of it.

Lucasfilm

10/

Again, this could be Jedha as that pyramid structure seems to be way off in the distance.

Lucasfilm

11/

We know the Rebels are ultimately unsuccessful and it seems this is when they are retreating from the battle — if they're even able to retreat without being hit by the Imperial blasters.

Lucasfilm

12/

K-2SO says, "There is a 97.6% chance of failure," and somewhere a young Han Solo shouts, "Never tell me the odds!"

Lucasfilm

13/

Riz Ahmed's Bodhi Rook is also wearing an Imperial uniform, which makes it likely that the Rebels early on found spies on the inside or took siege to a troop and convinced them to turn to the Rebellion.

Lucasfilm

14/

There are bazookas in space now, I guess.

Lucasfilm

15/

Based on all the dirt and rock in this cave, it's likely that Jyn and Cassian are very narrowly escaping an underground reserve of the power source of lightsabers. So again, they're on Jedha.

Lucasfilm

16/

Fortunately, the ship can travel at lightspeed.

Lucasfilm

17/

Our new hero is clearly quite brave because she's about to go head-to-head with a TIE fighter. We're finally off of Jedha and onto the beach-like planet where a big battle will take place.

Lucasfilm

18/

These are our rebels.

Lucasfilm

19/

And of course, the man we've all been waiting for: Darth Vader. (All we get from him in the trailer is one breath.) Anakin just donned the shiny black suit at the end of "Revenge of the Sith," so it will be interesting to see him while the iconic costume is still new. But don't get your hopes up that he'll be heavily involved. Vader never commanded the Death Star so it's likely that he'll just play a supervisor role as it is constructed.